Long-haul diesel trucks carry the lion’s share of all shipped goods in the United States. The drivers of these trucks often live in these trucks for days, sometimes weeks, at a time as they deliver these goods. When stopped overnight, many of these drivers leave their engines idling to heat or air-condition their cabs and produce power for the amenities they need to carry on their lives while on the road. To address the problem of environmental degradation due to idling trucks, the EPA and other interested parties are funding the Interstate 5 Idle-Free Corridor project, which is researching ways to reduce truck idling.
This paper details the Oregon portion of the Interstate 5 Idle-Free Corridor project and the problems related to truck idling along Interstate 5 in Oregon. Interviews with truck owner-operators and fleets uncovered reasons why truckers idle and what they are doing to reduce idling, as well as their views on several idle-reduction technologies. It became clear that many truckers are hesitant to buy in to the place-based technologies that the I-5 project is supporting because of initial costs and their skepticism that it will be available when and where they need it. The project revealed that most of our respondents preferred on-board technologies that were available at all times, wherever the truck was stopped.
Analysis and interpretation of the data gathered suggests that policy created to address the idling issue should be flexible enough to allow truckers to use a variety of solutions to reach their goals for idle reduction.